After a long paddle, we landed ourselves in the very memorable Maiden Rock Wisconsin. There we were greeted by a very sunburnt man wearing a speedo of the American flag and he slightly resembled Hulk Hogan with a bear in one hand and a cigarette in the other. We had no idea we had just landed in one of the biggest hot spots of a famous motorcycle trail. There was hundreds of motorcyclist all around this very small town. They were mostly at the bar or around the campsite that was mostly filled with RVs or more motorcyclists.
When we landed we stuck out like a sore thumb because we were 19 people getting out of these very big canoes setting up the only tents in the area. Soon we became to feel a bit uneasy and a need to protect each other from all these motorcyclists. We thought that we would use the buddy system since most of us were feeling pretty uneasy about being in this town with all the motorcyclists.
In town, we ran into a second hand/ vintage shop that had many problematic products. There was a book that talked about why being gay was sinful and should not be allowed. That same book also talked about how transgender was not real and went on to insult the trans community. It was awful and hurtful to see because there are some people in our group that are part of the LGBT community.
Maiden Rock was just not too welcoming to our small diverse community that was paddling the Mississippi River. We just didn’t feel good being there and were ready to leave the moment we got there.
Some people went to do some stream sampling and at the stream, they were run off the property. Apparently, the stream was private property and the owners called the police on the students.
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